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Managing Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney (right), presents graduate, Claudette Garrick, with a trophy for being Top Performer Female at the graduation ceremony for participants in the Alternative Livelihood Skills Development Programme held at the Chinese Benevolent Association, Old Hope Road, on October 26.+-

Photo: Rudranath FraserManaging Director of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), Omar Sweeney (right), presents graduate, Claudette Garrick, with a trophy for being Top Performer Female at the graduation ceremony for participants in the Alternative Livelihood Skills Development Programme held at the Chinese Benevolent Association, Old Hope Road, on October 26.

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The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has launched the second cycle of its Alternative Livelihood Skills Development Programme.

Training for the graduates was facilitated through a number of entities, namely. the Pre-University School; Institute for Workforce Education and Development (IWED); Rakul Enterprise School of Education and Technology; Trench Town Polytechnic College; the University of the West Indies film project; and Internet Income Jamaica.

Cycle two seeks to increase the probability of employment and improved livelihood of skilled trainees under the ICDP programme through the acquisition of advanced and introductory level skills, certification and job-readiness skills.

The Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) has launched the second cycle of its Alternative Livelihood Skills Development Programme.

The $69-million initiative is a component of the World Bank-funded US$42-million Integrated Community Development Project (ICDP).

Cycle two seeks to increase the probability of employment and improved livelihood of skilled trainees under the ICDP programme through the acquisition of advanced and introductory level skills, certification and job-readiness skills.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony for participants under Phase one of the training programme, Managing Director at JSIF, Omar Sweeney, said the project seeks to, at its completion, train some 400 Jamaican youth between 17 and 29 years old.

“Under phase two of the programme, some of the areas of training are 3D animation, film production, online entrepreneurship, customer service, barbering, housekeeping, welding, landscaping and facilities maintenance,” Mr. Sweeney noted.

The graduation ceremony was held at the Chinese Benevolent Association of Jamaica on Old Hope Road on October 26.

More than 250 young people have received certification in various skill areas, having successfully completed training under phase one of the Alternative Livelihood Skills Development Programme.

Training for the graduates was facilitated through a number of entities, namely. the Pre-University School; Institute for Workforce Education and Development (IWED); Rakul Enterprise School of Education and Technology; Trench Town Polytechnic College; the University of the West Indies film project; and Internet Income Jamaica.

For her part, Word Bank Country Manager, Ms. Galina Sotirova, said the ICDP is part of the focus on building social resilience, and is a continuation of the successful activities completed under the Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project, which benefited more than 60,000 people in 12 inner-city communities.

She noted that it is estimated that when the programme closes in 2020, the ICDP will have directly and indirectly benefited approximately 89,000 people across the project communities.

The Word Bank Country Manager further said that the Alternative Livelihood Skills Development programme is probably one of the most important and exciting parts of the ICDP.

“It focuses on the young people of the ICDP communities and on building their skills and creating the opportunities for their meaningful productive employment. The skills gained in this programme can lead to temporary and permanent employment of the trainees,” Ms. Sotirova said.

She informed that the best results under Cycle One of the training programme were achieved by Manpower Institute for Workforce Development, where over 50 per cent of the trained participants gained temporary or permanent employment.

In addition, for the Pre-University School, which prepares students to enter tertiary institutions or the job market, 39 out of 41 participants graduated, with over 25 per cent finding work less than three months post training.

For the IWED, which offers certified courses in areas such as home management, customer service, landscaping, food handling, customer relations, office administration, housekeeping and hospitality, there was a 100 per cent completion rate, with over 50 per cent of the participants now employed.

Meanwhile, participant in the programme and Environmental Warden, Retirement Community in St. James, Floyd Heath, expressed appreciation for the programme.

He noted that the environmental wardens were exposed to training in areas such as the roles of a vector control officer, adding that focus was placed on searching for mosquito breeding sites, and the role householders play in eradicating breeding sites.

“At first I thought mosquitoes were some flying insects that torment people, only to find out that there are different types, including the culex mosquitoes, anopheles mosquitoes and Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. I thank JSIF, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the HEART Trust/NTA, for this educational exercise,” Mr. Heath said.

The ICDP, which is funded by the World Bank, aims to promote public safety transformation through the provision of basic infrastructure and social services in 18 communities in the parishes of Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine, Clarendon, St. James, St. Ann, and Westmoreland.